Crime Junkie - NEW SHOW: Drowning Creek

Episode Date: June 21, 2024

In the early morning hours of November 2, 2007, Justin Gaines walked out of a popular nightclub on the outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia and was never seen again. The investigation into Gaines' disappearance quickly went cold and remained so until 2015, when a man confessed to taking part in his murder. Though this detailed confession described what happened to Justin Gaines, who was involved, and where his body was placed, no arrest has ever been made. Host Sean Kipe digs into this story to find out what really happened to Justin Gaines and tries to make sense of the still ongoing investigation. But as Sean gets deeper, he finds himself in an underworld of drugs, money, and murder.Episodes of Drowning Creek are released every Friday and you can listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Hi, Crime Junkies, and happy Friday. I know today is usually just Fan Club Friday, where all of you fan club members get Monday's episode early and ad free. And that episode is still there, waiting for you in the Crime Junkie Fan Club app. But I also wanted to drop in with a little something else for everyone today.

You probably know by now that I can do this thing where I fall down rabbit holes hard. And if there is a case just like right with conspiracy, where there are so many theories that you need a string board, I'm there. And there is a case like that currently being investigated with so many twisty paths that have to be explored. And it is all about to start unfolding. Around 2.30 AM on November 2nd, 2007,

18-year-old Justin Gaines left a popular club called Wild Bills. Now before leaving the club, he made maybe a dozen phone calls to his friends and people he knew looking for a ride home, but no one was able to pick him up. So he got into a black car with a blonde woman, but he's never been seen again. Law enforcement and even a private investigator believed that they would find Justin within a week. But all of these years later,

his family is still looking for him, still looking for answers. In Drowning Creek, a new podcast from Waveland, host Sean Kipe takes on the most complex case he's encountered yet as he works to pick apart two decades of mystery. And you guys, I know I alluded to this earlier, but there is a lot of mystery and so many wild theories in this case.

Rumors about Justin being murdered circulated all over. And there were theories about infamous killers being involved, people like Israel Keys and the Smiley Face Killer. There were even people talking about connections to the cartel. But among all of that, there were some more local names that kept popping up. And there was someone who even comes forward later with a confession. But still, to this day, no one has ever been convicted in association with Justin's disappearance. So Sean is going out there, going on the ground, and exploring every option that this case presents.

And for the first time ever, law enforcement has opened up their files on this open and active case because they believe it's solvable. But getting answers relies on witnesses coming forward and people talking. With Drowning Creek, Sean's goal is to do just that, get people talking. You're gonna hear tips that have been called in, stuff that has never been publicly released until now. And you're even gonna get the first ever public interview with the individual who has historically been the prime person of

interest. There is still hope for finding answers. Sean's investigation is still ongoing, and you are not going to want to miss what he has uncovered. So I'm going to play the first episode of Drowning Creek for you right now, but then be sure to go follow Drowning Creek wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss new episodes that come out weekly. Here's episode one. This podcast is intended for mature audiences. Listener discretion is advised. On November 2, 2007, 18-year-old Justin Gaines walked out of a popular club in Duluth, Georgia, just northwest of Atlanta.

In the early morning hours, he was spotted climbing into a car with a young woman and was never seen again. Despite dozens of volunteers searching, flyers hanging on local businesses, extensive news coverage, and even the Georgia National Guard lending their services, there was no trace of Justin Gaines. He had seemingly vanished. There were no answers to explain his disappearance and the case eventually went cold. Eight years later, that would all change. A new lead gave

investigators insight into what happened to Justin that night and this story would take a sinister turn. At some point there's a tussle and he chokes him out and they thought that they had killed him. So they wrap him up in a paint tarp. They thought he was dead but he wasn't dead and then one shoots him. They put him in a van and haul him away. Investigators in Gwinnett County are working to identify human skeletal remains found in

Nikula. It's a process that... The disappearance of Justin Gaines takes a gruesome turn as law enforcement sources reveal new details in what they're now calling a murder investigation. Gwinnett County police searched every square inch of these woods off of Georgia Highway 316 and Drowning Creek Road into... A detailed confession alleged that Justin Gaines was robbed and murdered and that his body was dumped in nearby Lake Lanier. When Justin's body resurfaced days later, he was moved, stuffed into a large metal box,

and thrown down a well. A suspect confessed to exactly what happened to Justin Gaines and named everyone who was involved in his death. Dillon Glass said he killed Justin. He took that earring out of Justin's ear the night that he was killed. So why, to this day, has no one been arrested for his murder? The problem with this case is not just

that we don't have a body. It's that we don't have a crime scene. We don't have any physical evidence of death. We don't have a crime scene. We don't have any physical evidence of death. We don't have a mass of blood. We don't have a murder weapon. We don't have fingerprints. To me, there's no such thing as a conspiracy that can't be broken. When you've got more than two people,

somebody's eventually gonna talk, and there are a lot of people in this. In my mind, if we could find that body, that would be the key to the whole puzzle. I believe that if his body was found, people would start talking. And that's where I come in. I'm here to get people talking. He's here for his man. I'm here to get people talking. These hillbillies, man, they would rather believe a lie than the truth.

They don't want to believe the truth. They want justice. They want a conviction. No matter how you dress it up or make it look, I never killed that boy. The things that I'm going to give you and show you, I'm going to have proof to. There's a lot of things that people don't know. There's a lot of things that people ain't heard. From Waveland, I'm Sean Kipe, and this is Drowning Creek. Georgia in the fall is beautiful. Even in early November, temperatures often hang right around a comfortable 60 to 65 degrees, and the leaves have begun by this point to change to shades of crimson, yellowish gold and orange as they fall and cover the sidewalks and yards in a blanket of color.

Justin Gaines and a few friends lived together just off the Okoni campus of Gainesville State College in Athens. In 2007, Justin was a freshman and this was the first time he'd lived away from his parents. As any college freshman is, Justin was full of hope and excitement, even if he hadn't quite figured out what it was he wanted to do with his life. On the afternoon of Thursday, November 1st, he made the hour-long drive to his parents' home in Snellville, Georgia, to change clothes and hang out with his siblings and his folks before going out that night. His mother Erica and stepfather Stephen Wilson still kept his bedroom just the way it was before he moved out because he

sometimes came home from school to stay for the weekend. But also I think just in case he disappeared into his old room and picked out the clothes he would wear out that night, the last outfit he would ever wear. He would decide with Stephen's approving eye on a gray Abercrombie shirt, stylishly ripped jeans and tennis shoes. Justin was never shy about getting a second opinion on something, especially on how he looked. If he needed any help or any guidance or, you know, mom, do you think I should move into this place? This is what I'm looking to do for college. Applied for this. And he always asked for an opinion.

And I mean, he walked in and he was like to my husband, hey, Steve Vaughn, what shirt should I wear tonight for the ladies? I remember my husband saying, you know, wear that shirt on, go with your blue eyes. Don't wear that brown shirt. It looked like shit. Maybe the most important part of Justin's outfit though,

a huge diamond earring that never strayed far from his left ear. He liked the way it looked, but it also said, I've got style and money. It was cubic zirconium, but who could tell? Justin was all about his image. He worked out all the time and his bright blue eyes complimented his baby face.

His friends called him Gaines or sometimes Gainsta, but that was more of a nickname he seemed to try and implement himself. His friends just went along with it. He grabbed some cash and left his wallet behind in the bedroom. On his way out, Steven asked Justin if he wanted to make a few extra bucks over the weekend, something he did from time to time to earn extra cash. Justin said, sure. At that time, we owned a roofing company,

and we would have Justin clean gutters on the weekend. We'd pay him $150 per house. Justin loved money. He loved working. So he was also coming home for that. He came in, talked to all his siblings, asked what to wear. We hung out for about an hour and a half,

and then his friend Chris picked him up and took him out to Wild Bills. That's Justin's mother, Erica Wilson. Though she loves to talk about her son, when I first sat down with her, I could tell that the energy in the room had changed a bit as soon as she mentioned Wildbills. Wildbills was a huge club.

It actually had one of the largest dance floors in the southeast at the time. They held 18 and up nights each week to appeal to the younger crowd. Eventually, every one of a certain age seemed to make their way through Wildbills' front doors. It's also the last place Justin was seen. A lot of nights it was country at Western, but on Thursday nights, back in the day, we had 95-5 the BIAT, and it was Thirsty Thursday. 21 to drink, 18 to party.

He would go up there a lot on Thursdays. That night he was there, there was probably over 3,000 people. Thirsty Thursday is popular with the college crowd in most cities. Most clubs in or near college towns have them. The drinks are cheap, there are tons of people, and everyone is there looking to have a good time

to blow off steam from a hard week at school. And if you're looking for it, there are plenty of people willing to hook up for the night. Chris, one of Justin's roommates at school, picked him up sometime between six and 7 p.m. Justin knew he'd be drinking that night, so he opted to leave his car in his parents' driveway. Chris and his girlfriend picked Justin up.

First place they stopped was Quick Trip at the top of our street, because Justin had worked there for many years. Justin and his friends went to Quick Trip that evening to get mixers for vodka. They would use bottles of Gatorade or a similar drink and spike it. That way they could ride around and drink inconspicuously. Around the time Justin was nearing his Brookwood High School graduation, drinking became more

of a common pastime for him. You could even say it was becoming a problem. At 17, 18, he would go up to wild bills that I knew of on Sundays for a teen night. But then I realized during his senior year, one day I went to, found him in his room, and I was like, what are you doing at school time? I thought, man, I smell alcohol.

And he had the band on his arm and he went to school. He ended up having to come home because, of course, he said, you know, oh, they were just having me do mouthwash, but, you know, that was sneaking out or going out somewhere on Thursday nights, going up to Wild Bill's with a fake ID and drinking. He was drinking a lot more than I realized. Alcohol is a bit of a sensitive subject for Erica. When he was little, I was always against alcohol because I had a bad relationship with his father because of it. I'd always always tell him no bear is bad bear is bad and I mean I remember him being four years old and I pulled up to a convenience

store and there'd be a Budweiser on the window he'd be like no mom you can't go here. So I'm not sure if he was open with me because he knows I had a bad experience with alcohol. I still think about that. Maybe he never really told me about his drinking because he knew how bad I hated it because of his father and what I experienced. Justin had recently been arrested for underage drinking near his school in Athens, where police found him passed out in his car alongside a bottle of vodka. He was scheduled to appear in court a few weeks after his disappearance and Erica tells

me that he had a lawyer and was prepared to face the music, whatever that might mean for him. It was likely just a small fine and at most a few hours of community service. But that night, Justin and his friends went cruising for a while after dropping by the quick trip, stopping at a local pool hall nearby, and pre-gaming in the parking lot. I believe at this point Justin had been drinking in the car to save money so he didn't buy it in there.

And Justin's cheap. Justin's cheap. He was probably gonna save some girls with my drinks maybe, who knows? So that's why I believe he drank before he even went in there. So I don't think he had a ton of money on him. Justin, Chris, and Chris's girlfriend, Amanda,

arrived at Wild Bills at approximately 11.40 p.m., more than four and a half hours after leaving his parents' house. Justin has a VIP pass that some girl gave him or someone gave him and him, Chris and Chris's girlfriend at the time went into line. Justin did use a fake ID to get in that night. He was in the 21 and older lane and Chris and his girlfriend were in the 18 to 20 lane and then when they get up to the main thing, Justin gives gives him his pass they let him in. Chris and his girlfriend passed and get him in and Chris and his girlfriend at that point leave

wildbills. Justin says oh don't worry I'll find a way home. Chris and his girlfriend decided that they were going to go to a friend's house and hang out instead because they couldn't get into the VIP area with Justin, who had assured them that he'd find a ride home later that night. Justin danced and mingled inside the club, and at some point seemed to get into an altercation with an unidentified male.

It was allegedly over dancing with a girl, it's not really clear, but there wasn't a fight. Erica tells me what she's been able to piece together regarding this, as it's the first time I've heard any semblance of motive for her son's disappearance. I have heard that Justin saw a gentleman slap a girl, abuse a girl, and Justin went over and said, hey buddy, you don't treat women like that. And the guy said, just go away, get away. And that they were supposedly eyeing Justin the whole night. So that is where the fight, you know,

confrontation is supposed to have taken place. Justin also continued to drink when in the club. He had his fake ID, but he also knew several of the bartenders who would serve him, knowing that he was underage. I mean, Sherry was drinking. Someone he went to school with there was one of the bartenders, and she made it seem to me

that he wasn't really drunk. There was another older lady, and she also said that Justin seemed fine, but I mean, they also knew Justin was underage, and they were serving him all night, because the one girl went to school with Justin, so she knew. So I've heard conflicting things.

Sometime before 1 a.m., Justin began asking around for a ride, and by 1.30 a.m., he was seen outside the front of the club looking at his phone. He repeatedly texted and called nearly a dozen friends, a total of 24 times, to come pick him up, but with no luck because few answered, and everyone else had work or class in just a few hours. They just chalked it up to Justin being Justin, he'll figure it out.

And Justin did have cash on him, but it's unclear as to why he didn't call a taxi at this point when he was seemingly out of options. He never called his parents. Something Erica still can't understand or seem to get past. It haunts me to this day that he didn't call that night when he made hundreds of phone calls, hundreds, you know, tons of phone calls and texts, but not once to us. Maybe it's because he knew how much I hated alcohol. And I worried about him drinking and being like his biological father. That's how I look at it.

You know, he didn't want to disappoint us, but I would never be disappointed with any of my children. But for whatever reason, Erica and Stephen, along with everyone else who's ever known him, have not seen or heard from Justin Gaines since. He simply vanished. At first, Erica didn't think much of the fact that she hadn't heard from Justin when she woke up the next day. I mean, after all, he was a college kid now and he had his own life. He was pretty responsible for the most part, and she would see him on Saturday when he

stopped by to meet her husband, husband Stephen to clean the gutters. So now it's Friday, early Friday morning. Justin had told us that he'd be home on Saturday morning so he can go clean the gutters and do the job to make money. So I didn't expect him home Friday night. So, you know, nothing, you know, Justin went out Thursdays with his friends, this with Chris, you know, Friday, it's all good. When Erica and Stephen had heard from Justin by Saturday morning, though, the worry immediately began to set in. This wasn't like Justin. Saturday morning, he's not home to go clean gutters. Justin doesn't miss an opportunity to make money.

So I said to my husband, I said something's wrong, something's wrong. He's like, honey, he's probably just, you know, he'll probably clean the gutters tomorrow. I'm like, no, baby. You know, he has, you know, two days of work lined up. Something's wrong. And he's like, everything's okay. You know, don't worry. You know, he's 18. He's probably, you know, you know, maybe met a girl or something. You know, it's okay. He's not, everything's okay, don't worry. He's 18, he's probably, maybe he met a girl or something. It's okay. He's not answering his phone. Because now I'm the mom and why aren't you working?

You're supposed to be making this money for college. And he's not answering my phone. It was going straight to voicemail. So I couldn't get a hold of him and I'm upset. Stephen had tried to be the voice of reason and call Erica's fears, but when they still hadn't heard from Justin by Sunday morning, it was apparent that something was definitely wrong. On Sunday, I still couldn't get a hold of him.

I told him, now my husband's like, oh, so I start calling Justin's friends. Back then it was MySpace. So got on one of my kids' MySpace, and I start messaging Justin's friends and calling it friends. And they're like, oh, no, Justin's fine. We haven't heard from him, but we're sure you're fine. He's fine.

And of course, he has to go back to Athens before Monday for school. Worry quickly turned to panic as Erica began calling friends of Justin's, even taking to social media to try and track him down. But she had no luck, and everyone kept telling her not to worry. Justin's probably fine. But sometimes a mother just knows. He's not home on Sunday.

I'm calling his old girlfriend because they were very close still and no one's heard from them. And they're all saying it's okay. And then late Sunday night, I get a phone call from all his friends. It's like 15 people on the phone and they're like, something's wrong. We can't find Justin. You know, Chris was expecting Justin to pick him back up. His car's sitting in my yard, so I know he's not there and his friends all call and they said, something's wrong. We can't find Justin.

Erica didn't know it yet, but her entire world was about to come crashing down around her. From Saturday, I just knew something was wrong Saturday. But everyone assured me he was okay. Everyone had messaged, oh, don't worry, gangster's fine. He's out there, he's probably fine, don't worry about it. And then on Sunday night,

I mean, there's just tons of these kids on this call. I mean, and they're just all freaking out saying, you know, something's wrong. They can't find them. But my mom got on Saturday because he wasn't there, just told me something's wrong. So on Sunday night, I reported a missing. Late Sunday night, Erica called the Gwinnett County Police Department to file a missing person's report. Officers arrived at the Wilson home to take the report, but they didn't seem to take

her son's disappearance very seriously at first. This officer tells me, oh, don't worry. Most people come back in a few, you know, in so many hours. It's not really necessary. But then this guy goes home and tells his wife who posts on social media, Oh my God, my husband just took a report and he has a really bad feeling about this one. He's at my house, you know, telling me, Oh, don't worry. You know, most, you know, missing people come back in 40-Ed.

They're just sowing their oats, I think was his exact word. He's probably just sowing some oats. They didn't even turn it in right away or make it urgent or anything. But then he goes home and tells his wife that he has a bad feeling. And then me as his mom, I have to read that. Gwinnett Scan was an online forum for all things Gwinnett County.

It no longer exists, but at the time it was a heavily visited site, and Erica immediately began using it as a blog to post information about Justin and to ask for help finding him from the community. She also posted her contact information on the site. There were so many posts about Justin Gaines that Gwinnett Scan actually gave the thread its own page. Thousands of people were communicating with each other and directly with Erica. There were thoughts and prayers offered and even a few tips began to come in.

But while some of the information seemed promising, some things Erica read and heard were just plain cruel. That he was off Steve Reynolds Boulevard and then they chipped his body away and you'll never find it. The very first one was that they put Justin through a wood chipper and you would never find his body. It was just some horrible things. I just started running outside, screaming, hitting the house. My husband's like, what's wrong, what's wrong? I'm like, oh my God, they're telling me I'd never,

you know, and I just lost it. I couldn't process it. My neighbors probably thought I was crazy because I literally was just running outside, screaming, screaming, because I mean, it just pushed me over the edge hearing that. People even tried to extort the grieving family while at their lowest point.

Hey, send me money because we know your son's in Peru and we'll get you pictures of your son if you send us money. I mean, some people are telling you what they've heard, but other people are just cruel. A man calling himself Pepe even told Erica that he had helped Justin get a fake ID to cross over the Mexican border from Texas. Within days of his disappearance,

the investigation was officially underway. Justin's friends and volunteers in the community rallied together and began passing out flyers, knocking on doors, and forming impromptu search parties. Some friends still held out hope at first that Justin had just decided to go off the grid for a few days and would turn up fine, or had even fled the state to avoid the upcoming court date for his underage drinking arrest.

Though I think, honestly, that was just their coping mechanism of choice, refusing to believe the voice in the back of their head telling them this likely wouldn't end well. As time passed, hope turned to heartbreak and despair. It all felt so, you know, basically hopeless. In terms of things that are most likely, is, you know, he's either running from the law, he's trying to lay low to avoid getting in trouble for something. Or, you know, as more time passed, obviously, the confidence in him being passed out on someone's couch somewhere dropped pretty substantially.

After that, it was something bad happened. Mike Heiser was friends with Justin since their sophomore year of high school. They initially bonded over their love of playing poker. We had a math class together or something like that. I had never talked to him previously, and he said something to the effect of, the teacher's in the middle of teaching. And he yelled across the classroom, he was, hey, Heiser, you wanna play poker this weekend?

You know, that was the start of the friendship. Met up that weekend, played poker, me, him, and a few other buddies, and that's how it started, was just us sitting around playing $10 cash games of poker. Mike was involved in the search for Justin immediately. He left school in Valdosta as soon as he heard from his mother that Justin was missing.

This was personal for him, not only because the two were close friends, but also because Justin helped a young, quiet Mike Heiser come out of his shell a bit, something that made a huge impact on him. And that to me, like that changed my whole high school experience from there, because then I became, you know,

you are some of the five people that you spend the most time with. So then I became a little bit more outgoing. I became a little bit more of a class clown, and high school became much more enjoyable. And, you know, I was able to learn how to make new friends. By nature, I'm actually very introverted. Justin helped me to break out of that shell.

Mike's brother Patrick also participated in the early search parties and tells me what it was like. First night was really like the core people. It was that group of people that were the high school friends. A lot of us, when we first came there, thought we were gonna find him, like almost immediately. We thought we were gonna find him and oh he tried to walk he's on the side of the road he's in a gully he's hurt like we don't know

what's going on. First like five days were like gut-wrenching. I mean we're searching until two or three o'clock in the morning every night. And it was traced back where he would go if he got a ride, right? We search, we search, we search, we search, we search. And he crossed off all these Xs, places where you think he could be. But both of the Heiser brothers said

that the searches seemed unorganized and at times, almost pointless. I remember one where we all met up at Wild Bills and then basically sprawled out, and then another one that felt like it was just a wild goose chase that felt totally unorganized, as opposed to searching in grid sections

or how you search for someone. As you create a grid, then you go search in each spot in that grid, see if you come up with any clues. Whereas, you know, this felt like we were just driving out to a spot basically, and glancing around for anything suspicious and it was like, this feels disorganized. Local news outlets kept the public constantly updated on the case, and word of Justin Gaines vanishing seemed to spread everywhere. Erica and Stephen pleaded for anyone with information to come forward. They didn't care who was responsible, they just wanted their son home safe. They

wondered if he was hurt, if he was cold, if he was hungry. I've heard this from the mothers of other homicide victims. The mothers are concerned that their son or daughter is not getting enough to eat or that they're cold. I thought that was odd to have a commonality of cases like that where the mothers are concerned about that. Bob Polnoe has worked as a private investigator since the early 70s. Probably the last 15 or 20 years, my PI work was handling only major felonies. The seven deadly sins, as I call them, murder, aggravated assault, rape, child molestation,

you know, what have you. Just days after Justin's disappearance made news headlines, Bob Pulmo serendipitously caught a broadcast covering one of the search parties. Bob wasn't supposed to be home that day. He should not have seen Justin's picture on TV. But that would prove to be a pivotal moment in the Justin Gaines case. I had rushed home to get some paperwork that I needed for a couple of people I needed to interview in Duluth that day.

I needed those papers that I had forgotten to take early that morning. I looked at the TV as I was passing by to get to my desk, and it had Justin Gaines' picture on there. They had Missing across the TV screen, and I just saw a short blip of that. When veteran private detective Bob Pulnoe caught a breaking news feature stating that Justin Gaines was missing,

he took notice. Justin was from the same small town of Snellville that Bob lived in. And by the looks of the search party on TV, they were gonna need all the help they could get. They had a video of these young people searching for Justin Gaines, and they were all amassed in front of Wild Bill's nightclub parking lot.

It looked chaotic to me. It was not organized. It appeared. So I just went on with what I was doing, grabbed my notes, and went on to my interviews, which happened to be in that area of Wild Bill's. Sheerly out of curiosity, Bob pulled into Wild Bill's parking lot after finishing work for the day.

And what he saw didn't impress him. I sat there in my car and looked at them kind of running and walking along and it appeared to be as disorganized in person as it was on TV. Seeing how disorganized the search parties really were, Bob thought they'll never find that kid this way. He'd participated in enough of these kinds of searches

and had enough experience under his belt to know that much. Bob is a tough, no-nonsense kind of guy. He's old school. He's very good at what he does. So he found someone who seemed to be in charge and kindly offered his help. He and I chatted just a moment and I told him that I know a man in Houston, Texas named Tim Miller who works for a company named Texas EcuSearch, which is a national search and rescue team.

And I had had past experiences and cases for victims where I had used Tim Miller, his company, to search for bodies. Tim Miller and his Texas EcuSearch team were soon called in at Bob Pullnose Urging. The rescue team initially began with searches on horseback, but by now had evolved to utilizing ground searchers, side scan sonar, ground penetrating radar,

boats, aircraft, drones, and ATVs. They had the experience, know-how, and equipment that was needed, and the clock was ticking. Cases like this were right up Tim Miller's alley. He and his team have performed thousands of searches in conjunction with law enforcement agencies all over the country and abroad, and they've been successful in finding hundreds of missing people, both alive and dead.

Soon after Tim Miller's team arrived, Georgia's National Guard came to help as well, and they set up headquarters at a nearby church. Justin's mom visited Wild Bill's every Thursday night. There were over 3,000 people there the night he went missing. Someone had to have seen something. I used to go up there every Thursday after he went missing to hand out flyers and look at people and just try to, you know, see if anyone seems suspicious.

And what else could she and Steven do, really? Searching for Justin consumed them. It became their every waking breath. They didn't even go to work anymore. Finding Justin was their job now. We were in that church for probably four months. My husband didn't work. Every day for four months we went out looking for Justin. But I mean, because there's not a handbook about what happens when your kid goes missing. You don't know what to do.

Week after week, it was the same routine. Wake up, search for Justin, cry yourself to sleep, wake up a few hours later and do it all over again for months. Eventually, the volunteers dwindled as they went back to work and school, the rescue team and the National Guard left. And suddenly, it was just Erica and her family.

They were there and you're feeling confident. You have all these people here. You have guidance. You finally know what you're doing, or you're gonna do something. And at the end of the week, you're hoping something. But at the end of the week, they're like, oh, well. Of course, at this point, it was gonna be Thanksgiving.

So, well, if you need anything, let us know. We're going to leave, you know, it's Thanksgiving and, well, Thanksgiving, what's the big deal? My kids still missing. But I mean, you can't expect people to be there all the time. I mean. The holidays hit hard. First Thanksgiving, then Christmas. No festive decorations. No urge to give or receive gifts. Who could care about that?

The Wilson home was no longer the cheery place it once was, as Erica's fears were becoming a reality, that her son might not ever come home again. Now that the search was all but officially over, there was no daily task to keep Erica, Stephen, and their six other children preoccupied. The real effects of Justin's disappearance slowly took hold, and everyone dealt with it differently. It was a dreadful time, and everyone, especially his siblings, felt the weight of Justin's absence. They were all very different.

Some of our kids went to counseling. Our oldest son was in Ohio State at the time. He had a really hard time. You know, he had to go through counseling and things. Our one son Jordan is very open and would talk about it all the time, but I mean, they were all different. Unfortunately, when Justin went missing in the beginning, I mean, I went in and looked for Justin,

but my daughter played sports and I was very involved with my kids. My kids were my life. And I stopped, you know, made her coach pick her up and she'd be like, Mom, please go. No, I can't go and can't go. And but I mean, I stopped going to their games. I didn't want to do anything. I wanted to look for Justin or sleep. You know, or cry or be Nancy Drew. I mean, I'd stay on the internet all night. I mean, I want to do anything,

but I'm not the same person I was. I'll never be. The stress was extremely difficult for Stephen as well, because he had to not only take care of the other children and Erica, but he also had to go back to work, because with eight mouths to feed, they needed the money. It wasn't fair to him because I mean he was handling, you know, worried about coming home making sure I'm okay, the kids and

everything, when he's suffering too. They're all our kids, I mean it's not his, mine, our, you know, it's all the same, you know, so he's hurting just as bad as me. If I look back at it, I should have been more supportive of him because, you know, it's all the same, you know, so he's hurting just as bad as me If I look back at it, I should have been more supportive of him because you know, it's not just poor me It was the whole family Erica had become a shell of her former self a Hollow empty void wrapped in skin. She no longer recognized in the mirror She felt that if she wasn't looking for Justin, she was somehow failing him. And because he was never found, she couldn't even properly mourn him or say goodbye.

The depression cut slow and deep. She was spiraling further and further down. It was all she could do for a while to even get out of bed. I was ready to give up and just spend the rest of my time cry my life away. But I mean, it's not something you can do. One day my daughter said something about, mommy, this isn't you or you always did this with me. And I was like, no.

And she left that day to go do whatever it was, softball at the time or basketball. And something clicked and said, you know what? Justin wouldn't want this. She needed to get up and focus. So I try to stay strong now and, you know, being in a funk, not good. I mean, that doesn't help anyone.

It doesn't help Justin. It doesn't help your kids. It doesn't help your spouse. While all of this was playing out, Bob Pulnoe had been doing what he does best, investigating. He'd managed to get a copy of the security footage from Wild Bills that night. The footage gave clues as to Justin's movements inside and outside the club, but he was out of view of the camera when he disappeared.

Bob poured through the footage over and over again, taking note of who came and went, what they wore, and if they were with or even near Justin. The footage showed Justin dancing, shaking hands and high-fiving friends, and making dozens of calls and texts out front while looking for a ride. Then he walked out of view. There wasn't much to go on, but fortunately, Bob found a witness who was willing to talk. James Irving was friends with Justin having met him in college. James was someone who

I found that actually witnessed Justin with a blonde girl inside Wild Bills that night, seated at his table with him. James saw the same blonde girl get in the car with Justin Gaines and two other people in a black 2006 Dodge Charger with heavily tinted windows, shiny paint, and oversized 22- inch rims with a Georgia tag. They got in this car, there was a male driver and an unidentified passenger on the driver's rear. Irving's eyewitness account placed Justin with several other people in the Wildbills parking lot around 2 a.m. And he was certain it was Justin because he spoke to him briefly. Justin got in the passenger side rear.

The blonde girl got in the front and he drove away and James says to Justin, as he rolled down his window leaving the club and he sees him get in this car with this girl and he didn't know the girl. He told me he didn't think that Justin knew those people he was with and he'd never seen them before. So he said, hey, take care, see you around at school. And Justin said, yeah, be cool, you know, something like that. And he got in the car.

Irving's account was one of the first real leads Bob and the Gwinnett County police had to go on. And it's huge because whoever Justin got into that car with might be the last people to see him alive. The only problem is, at the time, they didn't know who those people were. And it all seemed to center around a mystery blonde girl. Bob knew how important this lead was and would not let the case go.

That car was and is a focal point of the investigation. The blonde girl, of course, is. R was and is a focal point of the investigation. The blonde girl, of course, is. Now, nearly 16 years after Justin went missing, well, that's where I come in. And for what is maybe the first time, investigators have opened the files on an active case to a podcaster, to me. Walton County Sheriff Joe Chapman, whose department is primarily handling Justin's case at this

point, explained his views on me coming into the fold. I see it as a positive. You know, not all in my position have that viewpoint, but at this point in time, man, we've thrown rocks, we've drug ropes, we've dug wells, done everything you can do. And here I am getting ready to retire. And I don't think the one coming behind me is gonna feel that way. I just don't think it will have the attention that it has right now. But the sheriff tells me that not everyone was as compelled at first to open the case files to me, including the investigator assigned to Justin's case,

former FBI agent Mike Rising. I called Mike and I said, hey, these guys with the podcast, okay. Well, you know, Sheriff, I don't like giving ass where you're gonna like it this time, you're gonna talk to this man. He said, okay. So I was kind of interested

in how that conversation was gonna go. Yeah, that makes two of us. And I know it won't be easy, but my goal here is simple, to reinvigorate the case surrounding the disappearance of Justin Gaines, but also to find out if there is information from witnesses that has not yet come to light, to find Justin's remains if he is, in fact,

deceased as believed, and ultimately, to find out exactly what happened to him the morning of November 2nd, 2007. And after just a few weeks of looking into this case, people are talking. When I began this investigation in early summer of 2023, in a Hail Mary attempt, I wrote a letter to one of the main suspects in this case, a man named Dustin Dylan Glass, who's

currently in prison in Georgia for unrelated charges. Glass's name has been synonymous with Justin Gaines for many years now, and for good reason. He confessed to taking part in Justin's murder, describing it in detail. Though no one has yet been charged with Justin's murder, police believe that Glass is the key to unlocking the mysterious disappearance of Justin Gaines. In my letter, I asked Glass to speak with me on the record about Justin, honestly thinking I'd never hear back from him because who the hell am I? Two weeks later, I was on the phone with him. So listen, yeah man, so I got your letter right.

Man, for a long time I've sat here and watched the world talk bad about me, man. You want the truth about that? With you I'm gonna give you all the way the truth. I'm gonna give you a hundred percent of truth man. When you hear everything that really happened, like it's gonna blow your mind. Drowning Creek is an original production of Waveland. I wrote and created the series and the original score. Executive producer is Jason Hoke. Associate producer is Leo Kulp. Sound engineering by Shane Freeman. Special thanks to Erica Wilson and her family. If you have any leads on this case, please contact me at info at SeanKipe.com. And if you love

the series, please leave a review and tell your friends. Follow Waveland on Instagram at Waveland Media for more on this series and upcoming new shows. And you can also find me on social media at SeanKipeOfficial or at SeanKipe.com. As always, thanks for listening.